Crazy Florida Bike Racing Event

A selection of amateur and pro racers lined up last week for the 8th race in the Florida State Championship Series in Tallahassee.  Some of those involved take part just for a bit of fun, for charity or as a team building event, whilst others are seriously competitive and pull out all the stops to win.

As you imagine this makes for quite an entertaining race, and the last battle that took place at Tom Brown Park proved to be exactly this. Most people chose to ride mountain bikes, but there were some on racing bikes and hybrids. The mountain bikes dominated as the course was largely off-road, but the faster racing bikes caught up on the flats. Needless to say there were plenty of crashes and falls, although thankfully no one was hurt.

Ryan Woodhall is leading the serious and hopes to claim back the title after winning the championship in 2007. However, in a major upset he picked up a flat whilst crossing a stream and lost 15 minutes repairing the tire.  Edsall, another favorite, had a small crash which put him out of the running and left the door wide open for Shawn Smith (Gator Cycle/Trek) to claim the victory.